Lupus
by BermudaRoma
Summary: Austin get's turned into a werewolf. Now he must try to understand a very animal, very instinctual side of himself that was never there before. No longer fully human, he has no choice but to find a balance between his human and wolf side, which is proving to be difficult. But how long can he keep his secret before he slips up and someone discovers what he is?


Disclaimer: I do not own Austin and Ally.

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Lupus

Chapter 1

Nothing made sense to him on what was happening. Austin had been out camping with Dez and his parents. He had to go to the bathroom, so he went into the small group of woods close to their camping sight, away from everyone else to take a leak in private. He had heard growling somewhere in the bushes. He remembered seeing yellow eyes and black fur, and then a flash of white fangs followed by pain; excruciating pain. There was blood and he remembered screaming. Austin wasn't quite sure what he saw, but it looked like a massive dog or a wolf. It was about the size of a small bear. At least, he thought it was. He wasn't sure, he could have been wrong. Something told him he wasn't. He knew he had been scared at the time, terrified even, but he felt like he knew what he saw. But then, it was gone. It was like the furred beast was never there, excluding the evidence that marred Austin's body.

Everything he remembered was in the woods, so why was he on his back, flying forwards as various lights and loud sounds erupted around him? He couldn't think straight. It sounded like multiple people were yelling but he wasn't sure. He could smell blood through his thick haze of confusion. A part of him vaguely wondered where it was coming from.

There was an annoying beeping sound and he felt something get shoved into nostrils. He wanted it out but his body wouldn't move. His body stopped flying, the light above him become one singular source. He felt himself get lifted and then carefully dropped back down somewhere else. There was a flurry of movement above him, people yelled and grabbed tools that he couldn't see, only hear. The clanging of metal hitting his ears like nails on a chalkboard.

He didn't know what was going on, but he felt so relaxed; he couldn't feel a thing. It was like he was floating. His vision blackened. He could hear the beeping sound quicken. He wanted it to stop. The yelling became more frantic. Austin closed his eyes, wanting nothing more but to sleep. He let the darkness overwhelm him. The last thing he heard was the sound of a loud, constant beep and then nothing.

~0~

Austin had been unconscious for three days after what happened. When he woke, he was told that he was attacked by, what wildlife investigators had suspected, a Florida Black Bear. Austin, when he was coherent enough to answer them, had insisted that it wasn't a bear, but a wolf. They didn't seem to believe him, stating that wolves that come even close to being that size was a species called a grey wolf, which weren't native to Florida. They said that only red wolves live in Florida and were much too small to do the damage that had been inflicted on Austin. His doctor suggested that in the hype and panic of the attack, Austin must have mistaken the bear for a black wolf.

Though Austin wanted to argue about what attacked him, his own wounds seem to be against him. He had suffered a large, nasty bite wound to his right shoulder. The bite marks were shockingly present. One could count the number of teeth that sunk into his flesh. The wound was so deep, he nearly bled out. The doctor had to make various blood transfusions in order to keep Austin alive. His heart had stopped beating at one point, but was quickly brought back. His doctors speculated it was due to shock from all the blood loss. The doctors also told him that he had about 80 stitches in his skin. Besides the bite wound, he had received very minor scratches and scrapes from shrubbery and sticks that covered the woods' ground. The nasty bite wound was too large to be a wolf, the doctors had stated, it couldn't have been anything but a bear.

He had been very lucky given the circumstances. He quickly stabilized and eventually woke days later. He stayed at the hospital for another day before he was given the okay to be released with antibiotics, pain medication, and the orders to get bed rest.

He went home and went back to his normal life. He tried to at least. It took a while to recover from the attack. Jimmy wouldn't let him perform until he fully recovered. The media, of course, caught wind of he brutal attack. Random people would stop him on the streets when they saw the bulge of bandages under his shirt. It was incredibly sore for days and people seemed to have a strange habit of poking at it. He ended up on a talk show and told everyone about what happened, rumors in the press made it sound like it was much more brutal than it actually was. Austin set the record straight, killing all the rumors that had spread. He didn't really see the big deal of the attack, but the press had to go and blow it up. The media seemed to really want to know what happened. He couldn't deny that an animal attack on a celebrity was a pretty good scoop for any reporter's career but still, he found their reactions to the news very annoying.

One thing really bothered him, though. He had no choice but to tell everyone that it was bear and not a wolf, because all evidence showed that it was, in fact a bear. He wanted to voice his skepticism, but really he didn't see the point. Even he was starting to second guess what he saw, but for some reason, deep down, something told him that it really was a wolf. A big black wolf. Not a bear. When he did a little research, he discovered that Black Bears weren't known to come around Miami, that they tended to stay west of the state. He brought this up with Ally, who said that the bear's homes were probably being overrun by people, hence why they were moving east. It was a pretty good reason, but Austin still wasn't convinced.

The ordeal blew over within two weeks, the only evidence of the attack was the slowly healing scar on Austin's shoulder. He got his stitches taken out a few days ago but he had to keep the wound bandaged for a few more days, just in case it opened. Eventually, he was allowed to perform again, as long as it didn't involve dancing, but just singing. Jimmy wasn't ready for him to push himself just yet. It left him frustrated but he didn't argue.

At school, people asked about the bite wound. Some even asked to see it. It didn't take long for that to get annoying and he eventually told people to stop asking. He was sick of pulling the right side of his shirt down so people could gape in awe at the raised flesh after he had gotten the okay to take the bandage off. The scar was big, covering his entire shoulder. People either thought it was nasty or really cool. Many complemented him, saying it was pretty bad ass that he survived a bear attack and walked with, as some people called it, a battle scar.

Once the third week hit, people got bored and stopped asking about it almost all together. Some people still asked about it, but it very few. He got to perform like normal again. He and Ally wrote songs together and he hung out with his friends just how he did before. It was like the attack never happened. He had his near death experience and now he had moved on from it. He had a few occasional nightmares about the attack, every time it being a wolf and not a bear, but that was about it.

School went back to normal, he hung out with Dez just like he normally did, though they tended to avoid any type of group of trees out of paranoia, not caring if they were in the middle of the city. His friends and family had gotten a bit more protective over Austin since the attack. Something Austin understood, he never brought up their new behavior and let them do as they pleased. He knew why they were doing it, they just didn't want to see anything bad happen to him again. His parents called him more often, checking to make sure he was okay, but mostly left him alone. He was always with his friends so they tried not to worry. Overall, everything was fine. His life had almost gone completely back to normal...until that fourth week.

~0~

Austin started noticing strange things that were happening to him. His senses were suddenly heightened. He could see, hear, and smell things nearly ten times better than he used to be able to. His sense of touch had become so sensitive that it felt like he was high or something. He could hear conversations and singular voices from the other side of the mall and he could tell what brand of perfume a woman was wearing that was miles upwind from him. His vision became almost painfully sharp. He could read the small text in a thick novel from across the room with little to no effort.

The worst part, was the hunger and the nerves. He became so full of energy, he would run for miles just to burn it so he could get to sleep. It seemed like he was eating every minute of the day, preferring meat and anything that smelled of blood. One day after a long day of school, he had come home starving-the school lunch doing nothing to satisfy his hunger-and pulled out a raw steak from the fridge and ate it without even cooking it. The taste was so incredible, he scarfed down the raw meat in only a minute.

It became hard to be around a large number of people. His senses caused him to get overwhelmed, giving him a terrible migraine. After a concert, he would run backstage, as far away from people he possibly could, and throw up. His nerves twisted his stomach so bad to the point that it made him sick. Every confrontation with a hug mass of people left him trembling. He couldn't handle it anymore. It was like his body was stuck in this crazy high and it was stuck up there.

His friends noticed his distress and constantly asked if he was okay. He didn't know what to tell them, since he had no clue what happening to him. Ally became especially concerned when she noticed how Austin would cringe every time she would hit a key on the piano, like the sound hurt his ears. How could they write songs if Austin couldn't stand hearing the piano?

This lasted for days and in only seemed to get worse. Austin grew more temperamental than usual. He eventually gave up with trying to interact with people and locked himself in his room, where it was dead silent. Or, at least, it should have been. He could still hear every car that drove past like he was standing right next to the road and every chirp from a bird sounded like it the creature was in his, right next to his ear. Even his own breathing was too loud. He could practically hear his own lungs filtering the oxygen inside him before they pushed out carbon dioxide. The sound was almost enough to drive him mad.

As the week neared to an end, he caught himself doing some very strange things. He would sniff the air like a dog and he would even catch himself growling low in his throat when he became especially riled up. There were even times when he got angry enough, he would pace the room and clench his hands like he had claws. It was like he was losing control over himself and it was driving him crazy. He just wanted it to stop.

Finally, it was Saturday and Austin was feeling worse than ever. He couldn't stand being around anyone. He found that the very thought of being inside a building made him fly off the hinges; he had to be outside. He told everyone to leave him alone, his senses stronger than ever. He needed to get away. Some deep seeded instinct inside him was screaming at him to leave the city. He needed to be out, in the wild.

Austin fought that instinct for the better part of the day until he finally cracked mid-evening. He jumped into his car and sped away from Miami. His phone went off five separate times. His mom kept calling him as well did Ally. They must have been worried, wondering were he was. Austin took the battery out of it and locked it in the glove box, having no clue what was driving him to do any of this. He didn't know how long he was driving, but he eventually found a heavily wooded area and turned his car onto a dirt back road. He headed for the woods, wanting nothing more but to jump out of his car and run.

The sun began to set by time he stopped the car in a deserted area. He left everything in the car and ran into the woods. The smell of nature hit his sensitive nostrils. He shuddered in glee, loving the smell. He felt so alive. It was nothing like he had ever felt before. Just the scent of the trees calmed his uneasy mind. Austin felt more relaxed than he had all week.

He found an old wooden cabin. It looked abandon. He didn't know why, but he went in. He found that it didn't bother him to be in the building; he actually felt rather comfortable inside the old cabin. It was dusty and rundown. It smelled of old wood and dirt. "What am I doing?" He grumbled to himself, openly questioning his actions for the first time today.

Austin didn't know what was happening to him. All he knew was that there was some strange instinct that he never felt before that was driving him to act this way. He couldn't fight it. It was like he was turning into some wild animal. He felt a little scared. He was so confused. All of this was so unlike him.

He looked out the window, catching sight of the darkening sky. The moon shone bright and full. It was huge tonight. Austin felt himself get pulled into it the alluring beauty of it.

His breath quickened and his heart beat rapidly in his chest. He felt hot and uncomfortable. His skin didn't feel right. The tips of is fingers and toes tingled and his teeth felt sore. Austin finally noticed that he was trembling.

"What the hell is happening to me?" Austin's voice shook. He stared down at his feet. He didn't know how he knew, but something was about to happen.

A part of him wanted to leave, go back home and pretend he never came out here, but something kept his feet firmly planted on the floor. He looked outside through the window and he was met with the sight of the full moon.

"AH!" Pain suddenly shot through his spine. He winced in pain and scrunched his shirt up in his fists. He screamed again as the sound of his bones snapping out of place filled the room. Austin dropped on all fours, screaming in agony. His body convulsed as his bones realigned themselves under his skin. His eyes went wide with horror when his teeth suddenly began to fall out. Blood poured from his mouth. His body fell onto the floor, agony raged inside his entire body. He wailed in pain as he felt new teeth rip through his gums, drawing more blood. His nails fell out and, one-by-one, they were replaced with sharp claws. Austin watched this all in absolute horror.

He screamed and screamed as his body agonizingly contorted itself into something entirely new. He could feel fur growing on his face, his stomach, chest, back, everywhere. The sounds of cloth tearing to shreds filled the cabin. Austin howled in pain. It felt like something was growing out of his behind. After a while, he could hear his own cries become more animal like. His eyes blurred for a moment before resharpening themselves. Everything looked different now. More vivid, the colors more vibrant.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. Austin took in deep, desperate breaths. For a long while, he just stood there, trying to contain himself. Once he caught his breath to an extent, he tried to stand up and found that he couldn't. He fell back down onto the wood. He blinked in confusion. What was wrong with him? He trembled as he stood on all fours, fighting to keep his balance. Something didn't feel right.

He looked down and gasped. His hands were gone, replaced by furry paws. His legs were a solid golden brown as well was most of his paws, though the tips around his claws were white. He ducked his head down to look at his hind legs. He found that were the same color as well, but his underbelly was a mess of the golden brown mixed in with a mass of black. His tail was mostly the golden brown but had specks of black all over it. He attempted to move the tail and gasped when it started to sway.

He felt a dog-like whine rumble in his throat as he panicked. _What the hell is going on!_ He tried to yell out but only more whines and yips came out. He tried to walk. He stumbled a bit, his footing was incredibly awkward, but he was able to keep himself from falling. His new body seemed to pick on walking on all fours quite quickly. He was running around the cabin in a panicked frenzy within minutes. The sound of his claws clicking against the wooden floors accompanied the sound of his panicked whines.

Austin found, surprisingly enough, a bathroom, which was something he found a bit odd. Most cabins like this one usually only had outhouses. He didn't complain, though. There was broken mirror hanging up over the sink. A large chunk of it was lying on the floor. He peered into the glass and nearly fainted when he saw what was staring back at him.

The face of a large wolf stared up at him. The lower half of his muzzle was white while the upper half was a light brown. The brown moved up, wrapped around his brownish-yellow eyes like a mask. Black fur framed his face with patches of white and brown mixed into it. There were all kinds of different shades of black, brown, gold, and white around his face. The back of his ears were a reddish-brown. A layer of his back was white with streaks of black peppered into it. The fur went into a brownish-black and then white again. It finally turned back to black, mixed with brown, the coloring stopped halfway down his sides before turning into a golden brown mixed in with patches of creamy white. The white eventually faded into nothing but a solid golden brown, just like his legs and paws.

Austin couldn't believe what he was seeing. Whenever he moved, the wolf moved with him. Every time he tried to speak, the wolf would make a sound. Terror and confusion tore at his insides. How could this be happening? How was this even possible? He looked around the room, shuffling on four paws before looking down into the mirror again. The wolf whined when the image didn't change. Austin couldn't believe it, he was a wolf.


End file.
